Aoun: I Will Not Accept Alternative to Orthodox Law, I Wasn't Informed of Any Rome Agreement
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun rejected on Tuesday any possible alternative to the Orthodox Gathering parliamentary electoral law, saying that the rights of Christians in Lebanon are being usurped.
He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “I was not informed of any of the discussions that were held in Rome.”
Prime Minister Najib Miqati had hinted on Monday that an agreement had been reached in Rome with Speaker Nabih Berri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over an electoral law.
Al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday that the two-paper document states that political foes should consent on a hybrid electoral law that divides the parliamentary seats equally based on winner-takes-all and proportional systems or 60 percent of MPs be elected through the winner-takes-all and 40 according to the proportional system.
Al-Rahi is set to propose the plan to Christians factions upon his return to Lebanon.
The three officials had traveled to Italy to attend the inauguration mass of Pope Francis I on Tuesday.
Aoun continued: “The rights of Christians are being usurped and the way the issue is being dealt with is offensive.”
“The usurpation of their rights is aimed at covering up an attempt to lead Lebanon towards vacuum and chaos,” noted the MP.
The Orthodox Gathering law is constitutional, as is the proposal that calls for the adoption of Lebanon as a single district based on proportional representation, he stressed.
“We will accept the position of the majority. Is this not democracy?” he asked.
Moreover, he slammed the Taef agreement, saying that it should be “dumped in the garbage because it is not an accord.”
The FPM leader also condemned the attack against the four Dar al-Fatwa clerics on Sunday, hoping that the investigation would reach its findings soon.
Aoun voiced his support for Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani's position on the assault, noting that he helped avert strife in Lebanon.
He revealed that an FPM delegation will soon meet with Qabbani to express its solidarity with him.
On Sunday night two Dar al-Fatwa clerics Sheikh Mazen Hariri and Sheikh Ahmed Fakhran were assaulted while passing through the Beirut area of Khandaq al-Ghamiq.
Another two clerics, one of them identified as Sheikh Omar al-Imami, were assaulted in the southern suburb of Shiyyah.
Tensions soared in the wake of the two attacks as angry protesters blocked roads in several regions across Lebanon.
Source: Naharnet
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